Videos

Every day, drugs, weapons and other smuggled goods arrive at the port, hidden in containers. Unfortunately, customs currently cannot even check 10% of all containers. Caroline Bossuyt and her colleagues want to change that. How? With x-ray scanners, the port's future detectives.

Alzheimer's not only affects memory, but also balance and orientation. "People with Alzheimer's move more slowly and unsafely, putting them at greater risk of falls and broken bones than their healthy peers," Joyce Bosmans explains. She advocates helping people with Alzheimer's to get balance training.

Did you know that as many as 3 in 4 women suffer from a vaginal yeast infection at some point in their lives? But does the type of underwear they wear play a role in this? That's what Leonore Vander Donck (UAntwerpen) is looking into.

Tim Boogaerts (UAntwerp) dives into sewers for his research. "Why would you do that?", we hear you thinking. Well, because sewage offers a wealth of information on the use of drugs, alcohol, and medicines in our society. Tim explains how that works.

Bees, snakes, or birds: they see things that we humans do not. Until now, because with hyperspectral cameras, we will soon surpass the entire animal kingdom, as Thomas De Kerf (UAntwerp) explains.

Have you ever enjoyed a delicious smoothie? The way this tasty drink is made has similarities to how Alzheimer's disease research has been approached in the past decades. In this video, Lara De Deyn explains why she chooses a fruit salad approach in her research. A very nice metaphor to tell how Alzheimer's disease research is evolving.

Why do people get cancer, arthritis, or Alzheimer's? Essentially because a protein key in our body does not fit in its respective lock. This is why Alvaro Martin is looking at removing defective keys and designing new protein keys. Keys that fit and can open the necessary locks, so that for example, our immune cells target and kill cancerous cells. "Protein design can be the key to unlocking a future without diseases."

Have you ever heard of the mysterious "crazy root disease"? Sounds like something you'd rather not have in your garden or greenhouse, right? 🌱 Find out more about this bizarre plant disease and how the VIB and the KU Leuven are determined to get rid of it! 💡✨

Did you know that AI can help doctors detect breast cancer? Or that it can be used to predict sepsis, a life-threatening condition, in premature babies? AI seems to be a great advancement in many ways, yet many people fear or don't trust the technology. Ignace Decroix wants to identify what exactly causes people to have more or less trust in AI.

Why is it that some plants like moss stay very small, while others grow to become large trees? 🌳 "There's still a lot that we don't know about how plants grow exactly", says Max Minne (VIB - UGent). To find out more Max uses an innovative technique that allows him to look at every single cell in the plant and unravel how the hormone cytokinin, responsible for plant growth, impacts each one of them. 

Up to 25% of the cells present in lung cancer tumours are currently ignored. As such, we don't know what the role of these so-called B cells is. "It is crucial to figure that out because we cannot efficiently fight something we do not fully understand," says Pauline Bardet (VUB - VIB - FWO).

In her PhD, she wants to get to the bottom of those B cells and thus find out whether those cells are "good guys" or "bad guys".

Roughly every 5 minutes someone on this planet dies of ALS, and the sad truth is that we still do not have an effective treatment to cure this disease. The problem lies in the fact that we do not fully understand what causes ALS in the first place. In his doctorate, Jimmy Beckers is trying to solve a piece of the puzzle. He is investigating whether a malfunction in our internal cellular recycling system might be linked to ALS.